On Wednesday, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, called immigration the biggest issue of the current time. He added that the firm is pushing hard for immigration reform. Cook particularly singled out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which gives work permits and protection from deportation to young undocumented immigrants who were children when they were brought to the US – known as Dreamers.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the phasing out of the program earlier this month. President Donald Trump called on Congress to have the program legalized, with proper legislation, before protections start to run out, in six months’ time.
In an interview, held at the Bloomberg Globe Business Forum, Cook called the move unacceptable and said he was shocked that such a thing was even up for discussion, calling it a matter of respect and human decency rather than politics. Cook says that Apple will work alongside Congress because of the many Dreamers their company employs, and he is not alone in his views on this.
The former New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who is now the CEO of Bloomberg L.P, says that the immigrant employees of his firm have been asking for transfers to overseas offices in the wake of recent policy proposals on immigration. Bloomberg notes that US businesses are in constant need of new blood, but that such people will go elsewhere if the country continues to be unwelcoming.